Phoenix Rising
by NorseGirl23
Summary: Times have changed, but he had help. A mutant who hated using her powers. Loki's invasion happened, and she began to change. It was mostly how she used her powers. The Avengers start dealing with terrible things, and they seemed to have help from a different universe almost.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

A woman with wavy red hair dragged a beat-up suitcase through the dark hallway before stopping at one particular door. She banged on it before a young man with the same colored hair and the same vibrant green eyes. He rubbed his eyes and glared at her.

"Do you know what time it is?" He demanded.

"I need a place to stay," the woman replied pushing her way past him. She looked around the dirty apartment, and she swore she saw half-eaten, half-moldy slices pizzas on the floor. "How do you life in this?" She walked into the guest room, the one clean room.

"How long you staying, Tabby?" Her brother asked her.

"Permanently," she answered. "Not with you. Just until I can find a place of my own."

Her brother snorted in response as he closed the door behind her. "I thought you don't like being in big cities."

She winced, but she chose not to answer him. He was right. Tabby never did like big cities, but she had her reasons. Her brother, wisely, had let the subject drop. With her, she never really needed a reason. Sometimes she just did things, but that time, their older brother, at the end of his rope, had her live with the brother closest to her age because the two of them on different ends of the country was too much even for their secret agent brother.

Tabitha Cooper settled into her life in New York City. Or at least as much as she could ever do.

* * *

She met her brother's neighbor the next morning when she cleaned and sterilized his apartment. A taller man with blonde hair, and he was built as a fighter, and she could tell he had muscles. The air about him was military, and his actions and mannerisms proved that. Tabby could almost sense that he was full of loss, but she never delved any deeper, not something she wanted to deal with at that moment.

Tabby had certain abilities that allowed her to read minds and know the feelings of other people. It was a gift she was born with, a mutant. It was a fact that she had grown used to, and it was the reason why she hated big cities. Too many people meant that she was surrounded by too many minds and feelings. Tabby may have had control over her power, but there were times when she needed to isolate herself from the constant chatter and bombardment of foreign emotions, having to deal with a migraine that would come from them. It was why she avoided touching anyone. Though her mental shields worked, when she touched a person, she knew everything about hem.

She almost walked into the neighbor when she dragged the garbage bag out of her brother's apartment. Tabby smiled a greeting at him before she went back to her work.

"Let me help with that, miss," he said, taking a hold of the bag. He almost touched her hands, and she flinched away from him.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"You're Mark's sister?" He asked her.

She nodded. "I still make his life a living hell."

He chuckled a little at that and stuck his hand for her to shake. "Steve Rogers."

She stared at it and gave an apologetic smile as she shook her head. "Tabitha Cooper, but really, everyone calls me Tabby. I swear if someone calls me by my real name, I forget they're even talking to me."

He seemed like a great guy, but she never really wanted to get any closer to him. People never liked mutants, and for someone like her, contact with anyone could be painful for her. It was just that his eyes were so gentle looking.

* * *

His life in the new era was unsettling and difficult for him to get used to. Asleep for almost seven years. . .everyone he knew were either very old or dead, and he himself had not changed at all. The worst was Peggy. . .she was talking to him right before he crashed the plane. The one woman who saw past what he looked like. The guilt and the memories from the war were what caused him to go to the gym and to wreck about two or three punching bags a night.

Steve worked to understand at least a little bit of his new world, reading up on what how the war had ended and its horrific aftermath. That took him awhile. He needed to stop reading every once in awhile. Some of the information was too painful for him, bringing terrible memories or guilt for not doing enough.

He met his lively neighbor, Tabby, and it took him awhile to get used to some of her antics. She usually spoke what she had on her mind, and sometimes, she swore in casual conversation like it meant nothing. She dressed stranger than a lot of the women of her time, and she did not care what people thought. Tabby could be warm and open one moment, but she would change just as fast, becoming cold and closed off. She would not touch him, flinching away from him whenever he accidentally brushed against her.

"Hey there, James Bond," she called out to him. It was a name she took to calling him lately when she found out that he worked with her oldest brother.

"Tabby." It took extra work from her to get him to call her by the name that everyone would call her. That morning, her fiery red hair was warmer, but she looked paler and her green eyes were strained looking. "Are you okay?"

She looked surprised but collected herself, tapping the side of her head. "Migraine."

Tabby smiled back at him as another brother rather worriedly walked to her.

"Kayla's handcuffed herself in front the courthouse," he told her.

"I thought Brandon went to get her?" Tabby asked him after sighing and rolling her eyes.

"He did," her brother answered, eyeing Steve with distrust, for some reason. "She kicked him in a pretty sensitive area."

Tabby snorted in amusement at that before leaving to find that Kayla. Her brother was still eyeing him while they waited for her to reappear.

It took almost an hour, and Tabby and Kayla were walking back to her apartment arm-in-arm, and the two of them were laughing. Brandon, the scowling and limping agent in charge of keeping an eye on him as he got reaccustomed to the world. Her two older brothers went into her apartment, and Tabby shoved Kayla in after them.

"We're keeping you out of trouble, Kay," she told her before closing the door. "Sorry. This happens almost every other week."

He realized that she had let Kayla touch her. What had made her so wary of human contact?

* * *

"Mom died when she had me," Tabby told Steve. It was that moment when she went against the rules she gave herself. She went to lunch with him, so they could get to know each other a little better. "Dad was never really the same since then, so Brandon, my oldest brother took care of us six."

"That's why they're so protective of you," Steve realized.

"Yeah."

Tabby was not really paying attention, and she was about to walk into traffic. Steve grabbed her elbow and pulled her back, and instead of the regular pain, she felt calm. Tabby pulled back her arm and looked at Steve in surprise.

"I'm sorry," Steve said, staying away from her. "I was only trying to help."

She gave a steadying breath. "It's fine, fine."

They walked on, Tabby found herself staring at him in wonder. He was a good man through and through. He carried pain and guilt, of course, but it was the fact that he was so sincere that had the calming effect on her. She allowed herself to be a little closer to him, but she would not tell him what she was. Not yet. She kissed his cheek after all that.

* * *

"You have a new person who'll help you," Brandon said, gruffly. He did not seem too pleased. "Let me tell you something. . .any funny business. . ."

It was Tabby who would help him, so that explained Brandon's reaction.

"How would she help me?" Steve asked.

"Trust me," Brandon answered. He clearly sidestepped past Steve's question. "She's one of the most qualified we've found." Though he spoke about that with pride, he still did not sound like he was too pleased. He handed him a thick file. "That should explain why. What do you know about mutants?"

He learned so much about Tabby, and he began to understand why she tried to avoid human contact. It was to keep her sane or as sane as she could be. The file was thick because she was a part of a group of people like her fighting to protect people from mutant terrorists.

"Mutants?" He said after awhile.

"What a world we live in," Brandon remarked.

* * *

Steve went back to his apartment, bothered that the people who were supposed to be on his side still had the cube just like HYDRA. They should have left it in the ocean. There no one could use it. The damn thing changed far too many lives and not for the better.

He could hear someone hitting a car, and he turned the corner to see Tabby clearly hitting the car with a baseball bat.

"Tabby!" He called out to her, running to her and grabbing the bat out of her hands. "What are you doing?"

"She cheated on my brother," she defended herself.

"Don't you. . ." He gave up and shook his head.

Tabby narrowed her eyes at him. "Not you too."

"I didn't mean it like. . .Tabby. . ." Steve said. He reached out to her, and she did not flinch away from him.

"I know you don't want to see me in trouble, but really. . ." she said. "You have a mission?"

"Yeah," he answered. "You're not supposed to come along." He knew that it would not be a good idea. Who knows what trouble she would get into, and if she needed to be protected, it would be easier if she was closer to him.

She scowled at him. "I've dealt with a lot worse."

"You don't know what that cube can do."

"Whatever," she said, dropping the subject. "A movie?"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Her brother did not seem too happy when he picked them up from their building. Over her shoulder was an old, beat-up bag she chose not to open since her time at school. It held the one thing that could help her in a fight, and she could use it with ease. A sword made from a special metal that was very rare on Earth.

Another agent waited for the two of them at a jet. He was older, and he wore a neutral expression on his face. When he saw Steve, he had to work to keep that expression. He seemed so excited to meet the almost legendary soldier. Tabby could tell that much without letting down her mental shields.

Her head began to pound. . .

_Their minds were not their own. Four women attacked their brethren as their world laid dying. There was nothing that could be done to help them, and their old allies were in agony on how to figure to save them and save their world also._

_A young woman in gold and white walked through the ruined streets. Her red hair blowing around her of its own accord, and her eyes glowing with a white light. Around her there seemed to have been flames in the shape of a bird. She stopped in front of the four women, and the Furies stopped their movements._

_"Hawkgirl. Wonder Woman. Catwoman. Supergirl," she said in a voice that was hardly even her own. "Hold onto yourselves."_

_She held out a single hand, and the five of them entered a white light._

* * *

Her eyes snapped open, and there was a rather worried-looking Steve. Tabby gave him a weak smile, but he did not buy it.

"Fine," she said. "I just had the weirdest dream."

"Nightmare."

"I don't get nightmares," she defended herself. "I was probably freaking out over the weirdest dream ever."

Steve seemed to accept her story. By that point he knew that she would not reveal anything she did not want anyone knowing. Even Steve.

The fancy jet landed, and they got out. Even then, she carefully guarded her old bag. They met a red headed agent, who seemed serious, but she was willing to make light comments about Coulson and his Captain America trading cards.

"I knew it," she said, earning a confused look from the agent. "I can tell these things."

Steve walked over to the nervous-looking "older" man and greeted him. Tabby knew who the man was, and she was surprised that he was so calm. In fact, she was a little jealous.

Bruce went to shake her hand, and she gave him an apologetic smile and shook her head.

"I don't shake hands with anybody," she said, tapping the side of her head. "You wouldn't want me to, anyway."

"You might want to step inside," the agent suggested. "It might get a little harder to breathe."

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked in wonder, looking around him.

"Really?" Bruce said in disbelief. "They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" They walked to the edge of the ship, and out of the water came giant wind turbines. "Oh no, this is much worse."

"Meh." was all Tabby had to say. Her time with the X-Men showed her even more wondrous things. She was not impressed. Both Steve and Bruce were giving her questioning looks. "What?"

* * *

Steve and Natasha, the red headed agent, left for Germany to deal with Loki, and Tabby was in the lab with Bruce. She tried to help him, but the man was in the zone when it came to trying to find the cube. Who was she to mess with genius?

Her headache returned. . .

_It was the White Hot Room. She vaguely remembered it. Some dream or another. The four women looked lost, confused, and then their memories returned._

_"What have I -" one tried to say._

_"None of that, now," she said, almost gently. "There was a puppet master behind your actions. No more."_

_"Who are you?" The stronger of the four asked. "And where are we?"_

_"That seems to be the million dollar question, isn't it?"_

_They were out of the White Hot Room, and the world was being ravaged by powerful and evil gods, and their only hope, the good gods, were long gone. Her people were bowing to the leader of the dark gods, his power that great, but flying through the skies was an entity of life, THE entity of life. Anti-Life could never stand a chance. _

* * *

For some reason, she was involved with the formal discussion on trying to figure out what Loki's plan could be. Tabby never thought she would be a part of it. Maybe that was why her brother was ticked about her joining the search.

She tuned out their conversation and thought back to the different dreams she had been dealing with. There was a sense that they were not dreams, but something else entirely. The last time she had that kind of power. . .bad things happened, and she lost the woman she saw as a mother and made her leave the X-Men. Looks like she would have to brave the school and talk with the Professor.

Everyone else separated, leaving Steve and Tabby to sit rather awkwardly at the large table. The two of them left the bridge, really only to walk around.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Couldn't be better," she answered. She never before had felt better at that moment.

"Dr. Banner told me you tuned out again in the lab," he said. "I don't see how that is being fine."

She made a disgusted sound. "You're starting to sound like my brothers. I'm fine. No headache. Not hearing anything. F-I-N-E."

"We - they're concerned because they care," Steve replied.

"I'm fine," she said.

"What was in that bag?" He finally asked her.

"A sword made from a pretty rare metal," Tabby answered. "Not really mine, though. Still have to return it to the person I borrowed it from."

He stopped walking and looked at her. "Why do you need a sword?"

"You never know what could happen," she answered, noticing his scowl. "I've been dealing with powerful psychos longer than you think. No need to worry about me. Actually, it's you I should worry about."

"You've never been in a war," Steve replied, still trying to fight her from joining.

"Yeah," she said, trying to keep herself from smiling. "Long story."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

"You're supposed to be searching for the cube Mr. Stark," Fury said, walking into the lab and pretty much glaring at the industrialist.

"We are," Tony replied, still looking at the screen. "It will lock on within a half mile. What is Phase Two?"

"Phase Two is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons," Steve said, setting an old weapon on one of the tables. "Sorry. Computer's moving a little slow for me."

"Just because we collected everything to do with the cube, doesn't mean -" Fury tried to say.

"I'm sorry, Nick," Tony interrupted him, showing the screen of the weapons. "What? Were you lying?"

The truth slowly came out, and Tabby found herself glaring at the director.

"People who can't be matched?" She demanded. Objects around her began to move. "It's times like these that make me wonder if he was right." Fury knew who she meant.

That was when the arguments broke out. Steve and Tony argued, and Thor was appalled at how the heroes were so mistrusted. Natasha worked to justify every action that S.H.I.E.L.D. and by extension Fury had made, while working to have Bruce leave the lab.

Steve noticed what was happening around Tabby, and he rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. Tabby began to calm down, but she glared at Fury.

Then the ship exploded, and everyone were thrown in different directions. Tabby hit her head.

_"I have no way to describe it," the Wonder Woman explained. "One moment I was locked away while someone else used me, and the next a woman in white and gold freed us."_

_"Did she ever say who she was?" Superman asked._

_"No, she never did. I get the feeling that she loves enigma," the woman answerer. She thought for a moment. "You might have considered her an angel, Clark."_

_"Whatever she is," Batman said, looking through the different videos and pictures of whatever flew across the skies. "She was involved with that, somehow."_

_The first Green Lantern looked over the strange pictures. "She may not even be from this world."_

_"Then where. . ."_

_. . .the foolish mortal thought to stop him? He was a god, and that man was nothing. Earth would soon be his. The Tesseract. . ._

_"Eavesdropping will do you no good here, mortal."_

* * *

Steve found her curled in a ball after the attack. He knelt next to her and gently shook her awake.

"Wha-" she asked groggily.

"Come on," he said, helping her to her feet.

"Oh." She said, having read his mind. "What now?"

They came onto the bridge, and Tony was staring off into space. Tabby could almost feel his pain. Fury was playing with old and bloody cards.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket when he died," Fury said, tossing them to Steve. "Guess he never did get you to sign them." He turned his back on them. "Yes. We were planning to build an arsenal with the Tesseract, but I never put all my chips in that basket. I was working on something riskier. There was an idea. . .Stark knows this. . .it was to bring together remarkable people, so they could become something more. It was called the Avengers Initiative. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes." Stark immediately left the room. "I guess it was an old fashioned notion."

* * *

Tabby held her left hand over the unconscious agent's forehead. Natasha was waiting patiently.

"He's fine," she said. 'Loki no longer has a hold on him."

"He'll be alright, though. Right?"

"Define alright," Tabby answered. "He'll feel guilty over what he had to do."

She left her alone with him, to wait while he regained consciousness. It was better than to think about what caused her to leave the X-Men and why her teacher died.

Tabby found her old bag and pulled out the special sword and old uniform. Hopefully it would still fit her. She was not Marvel Girl. She died a long time ago. Phoenix.

"Jean," she said to her old teacher and the woman she considered as mother. "This one's for you."

* * *

It was a lazy afternoon, and a couple of the students were flipping through the television channels until they stopped at a news channel. New York was being overrun by metal space bugs, but it was the people fighting them that were the very interesting thing.

"Hey," the girl with the white streak in running through her black hair. "Isn't that Tabby?"

"Yeah," the Cajun answered, shuffling his ever-present playing cards. "Who else has that red hair?"

"I just thought that. . ." she replied. "We haven't seen or heard from her in a long time."

"She's alive and well," another voice told them. The professor's. "She felt that she needed to leave after what happened to Jean. Tabitha felt that it was her fault."

Someone else came into the room and took one look at the television. He did a small double take when he saw the man in the red, white, and blue, but he recovered very quickly.

"She still has my sword," he remarked. "I was wondering what she did with it."

* * *

He drank the last dregs from the bottle and tossed it next to him. The television was on the same channel from the night before, so he was stuck watching the news and seeing New York be destroyed.

"Neighbor was right, after all," he muttered. "Damn aliens."

The man really had nothing to live for. It was all gone the moment the love of his life's heart stopped beating. With her gone, life had no meaning. His sons all hated him, and the freak of a daughter would love nothing more than to see him dead.

On the screen he saw her flaming red hair. He knew it was not possible, but for a moment, he liked to think that she lived on. Even for a moment. Reality set in, though, and he saw his daughter fighting.

He sat up in his chair. Around her a faint light began to glow in the shape of a bird. His wife's vision was coming true. That could mean only one thing. . .

Different worlds will melt together, and a great evil would seek to enslave them both. Very little could be done to stop them from happening. If he was lucky, maybe he would not live long enough to witness it.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Tabby looked at the destruction from the battle. She passed a hand over her tired eyes. Since the battle ended, she had been helping with search and rescue, using her mental power to better the efforts. Tabby knew she could not be everywhere and help everyone, but she knew a lot more people survived than would have if she had not been there.

The hopelessness and pain were painful for her. She could almost feel her mental barriers breaking and a painful migraine forming. The emergency responders all praised her help, but she only walked away. Sleep. . .darkness. . .she could practically hear her bed calling for her.

Their super stood in her brother's apartment, and he looked pissed. Mark was arguing with him, trying to reason with the man.

"I can't have her kind here," the super said over and over again. "No one would be safe here."

Mark winced. No one, except Tabby, knew his deepest, darkest secret.

Steve must have heard the argument, and he came into Mark's doorway. By the looks of things, he did not seem very happy. He was glaring at the super who visibly flinched.

"Leave tonight," the super ordered. "Or you will be sharing the streets with your brother."

"Where's she going to go?" Mark spluttered.

"I. . .I do have one," Tabby tried to say, but Mark only shook his head. He knew how much she hated being around her old classmates and friends.

Steve's mouth pressed in a line, and his eyes looked pretty deadly.

"She'll stay. . ." Steve said, choosing his words very carefully, not liking what he was saying. "With me."

Mark glared at Steve, but he never could say anything. The super had the deal with S.H.I.E.L.D. about Steve's apartment to think about. He could not, too afraid to, even argue with that decision, so he left the apartment, muttering to himself.

Tabby started to fume. Her hair started to move around he. It was when Mark and Steve tried to talk to her did she start to calm down.

"Where do you get off -" Tabby tried to say.

"It's only temporary," Steve told her. "And, you said you'd help me. This will make it easier."

* * *

_"You're not going to believe this," Green Lantern said to his colleagues._

_"Now's not the time," Batman said. "What do you see?"_

_"Yeah, that's the thing," Green Lantern said, drawing it out as long as possible. "It's a tear. I can practically see inside it. A different world."_

_"There was Boom Tube activity near there," cyborg said. "Anything else?"_

_Green Lantern looked close into the rip, as close as he dared, and he could almost see their worst nightmare. It was what brought all seven of them together almost a couple years before. It almost took their world from them._

_"Darkseid," he said. "He found one more world."_

* * *

Brandon was waiting for Steve in the old gym, leaning against the wall and arms crossed. The agent was glaring at him, and one of his hands was close to his gun.

"Living with my sister, now," he practically spat.

Steve set his bag down on the floor. "The super wanted her gone. She didn't really have a place to go."

"You offered -" Brandon spluttered, but he realized what Steve told him. He almost deflated. "She can't get away from it. No matter what she does."

Before Brandon left: "Any funny business, and. . .I don't care if you're Captain America or how much Fury respects you."

* * *

_Tabby was back in the White Hot Room. Instead of feeling the calm and warmth of being in that place, she felt cold and uneasy, like a great darkness was falling on the world, and it was the only place to really know that it was happening. A darkness that wanted to rule everyone and everything was coming, and she vaguely remembered dealing with it before._

_Mindless slaves. . .hellfire. . .life that is not life. . ._

_"Now you know," Jean's voice brought her out of the darkness. "You know what you have to do."_

_There was a tongue of flame that looked like a bird was in her hands, and she tried to give Tabby. The young woman flinched away from her._

_"Don't," Tabby said, almost crying. "Not me. Please!"_

* * *

Steve was kneeling next to her bed, wearing a concerned look on his face. Tabby was breathing heavily, and he pulled her to him. She did not flinch from him, only burrowed closer to him with tears running down her face.

"My head hurts," she cried. "I don't know what's happening to me."

He ran a hand through her hair, trying to soothe her. She closed her eyes, and she did feel calm.

Tabby dried her eyes and gave a watery sigh. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Steve tried to tell her.

"No it's not," Tabby told him. "Whenever I though I can get used to my powers this happens. I'm scared of what I could do."

She told him the story of her teacher, Jean Grey, but she did not tell him the part about how she may end up like her.

* * *

_"How are we going to do this?" Flash asked, deliberately as slow as possible so the others could answer his question._

_Cyborg scanned through the data with a look of concentration. He was going through different possible scenarios._

_"I have an idea, but it may be a long shot," he said after awhile. "There's some residual energy left that could be used to open another portal. It seemed to have been pretty stable."_

_Batman looked through the data for a moment. "It may have been the source of the tear."_

_"So we help them out for messing with reality," Green Lantern remarked. "Great Plan."_

_"It may prove to be difficult," Flash said. "If their world is like ours, people won't trust anyone with powers."_

* * *

Tabby was eating cereal when Steve came back from his run. A couple thick books were open in front of her, and she was taking notes. There was no trace of her distress from the night before and smiled at him.

Steve picked up one of her books and flipped through it. "The Cold War."

She grabbed the book. "Yeah. Pretty much a staring contest, and each side was waiting for for the other to blink."

Tabby let him look through each one, ready to answer any of his questions, and he was a fast learner. She felt a little nervous just sitting with him which never happened to her before when she was around him. What brought on that change? It could have had something to do with the fact that few people could comfort her after the worst of her episodes. Only Mark, Brandon (sometimes), the Professor, and. . .Jean could even do that. That could be the reason.

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked her.

"Not that bad," she said, almost yawning.

Steve even more concerned for her, if that was even possible. He tipped her head back and looked into her eyes. A frown creased his brow, but his eyes were full of something else. Something she could tell when they were that close.

"Did you even sleep last night?"

She shrugged. "An hour here and there. It's always difficult after those episodes."

He was still holding her chin and his frown deepened. "You don't have control over your powers?"

"I do. . .sometimes. . ." she said, vaguely. Tabby did not really want to tell him the reason. To protect him. "There are times, though. Like now, I know what you're thinking and feeling. I can shield my mind from it, but when I touch someone. . ."

Steve lowered his hand, almost apologetically. "You seemed like you were in control. May Loki. . .?"

"Maybe," but she did not sound too convinced.

"Do you know anyone who can help?" Steve asked.

Tabby winced. "I haven't been there since. . .Jean. I never left on the best of terms, but they would respect the Professor."

Steve was still looking at her with concern and. . .care. At that moment she decided to act on impulse. She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek, close to his mouth. Tabby went back to her room, leaving a baffled Steve and a possibility hanging in the air between that.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Tabby took a deep breath before stepping out of Mark's car. She walked to the door and knocked.

"Tabby!" An excited Jubilee said, clasping her gloved hand. "It's been forever!"

"Yeah," she said, happy to see her old friend. "Is the Professor here?"

Jubilee nodded. "Just finishing a class." Tabby fell into step with her. "I can't believe you're an Avenger! It's so cool!"

Tabby made a noncommittal sound, and Jubliee chattered on, apparently deciding to catch her up on all the things she had missed over the past few years. She left her at the Professor's study.

"Tabitha," he greeted. "What brings you here?"

"The same thing as before," Tabby answered. "I'm having issues controlling my powers. . .again."

Tabby went on to tell him her possible theory that involved Loki. His brows furrowed in concentration as he began to read her mind.

"Nothing," he said. "He did not mess with your powers."

"Then what's happening to me?" She asked. "I've never been like this before."

Scott walked into the study, worried. "You need to check this out."

He turned on the news, and Tabby half-expected it to show Anti-Mutant protesting. Not strange towers being built all across the world. Strange and almost demonic creatures flew across the skies, like they were guarding the towers.

"What the hell is that?" Tabby exclaimed.

A "man" with glowing red eyes was seen backing in the glory of a world that was about to burn, but he turned back to some kind of political leader.

Tabby shook her head, realizing that if the world was falling apart, her powers would go haywire. "I'll check this out."

* * *

No one knew what those towers could even do, not even Tony Stark. He spent many weeks after that trying to figure out what they could even do and how they even appeared.

Tabby ran a hand through her hair. Her headache was gone, almost disappeared. Her talk with Professor Xavier helped her a lot, but she had a sense that he knew a lot more than he let on. It bothered him.

"Hey, Tabby," Steve said.

"Hi," she could not really talk to him. She still felt nervous around him, like she was losing control, not that she even cared.

Steve sat across from her, and she felt that little thrill she had been getting during the past few weeks. She wanted to lean over to him and be held by him. it was weird, though. Tabby had never felt that way about anyone, and she never thought she ever would. He grabbed her hand, and she did not even flinch away from him. Tabby telf calm and relaxed. Steve raised her hand to his lips, and he kissed the inside of her wrist. He was looking right at her, gauging her reaction. Tabby gave him a small smile, and he let go of her. He wore a mysterious expression.

"Um. . ." she said, getting to her feet. "I've got. . ."

Steve was also on his feet, and he walked with her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she moved even closer to him. They stopped walking, and she faced him, looking up at him. Tabby stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, and she kissed him. Steve pulled her closer to him. She pulled away from him and rested her head against his chest, one hand on his heart, and she still felt calm. A calmness that came from the fact that he was a genuinely good guy, and the way he saw the world was different, an artist's view. He saw the beauty in everything.

"Stark figured out what the towers could do," Brandon said. He had been dealing with the Avenger's since Coulson's death.

Brandon saw Steve holding Tabby, and he glared at him. His nostrils flared, and he walked away from them.

"He's in the lab, in case you're wondering."

* * *

"I've never seen this tech before," Tony admitted. "But what I can tell, they're all over the world, built on the major fault lines."

Banner was looking pretty closely at Tony's notes. "If all of them are activated at the same time, they could create massive fire plumes that could blanket the entire sky."

"I love the end of the world," Tabby remarked, earning strange looks, and she only shrugged.

"How do we destroy them?" Steve asked.

"That I don't know," Tony said. "As far as I'm concerned these towers don't exist."

They looked at the different pictures of the towers, and they were at a loss for what they could do.

* * *

"Look at what happened to New York City," a budding politician said. The devastation of New York was his backdrop. "This is what happens when the too powerful 'fight for us.' Our lives are at risk as they fight. They're too powerful. There's no accountability. How should we feel safe with them keeping an eye on us?

"We shouldn't. As long as these 'super humans' and mutants are living with us, more threats would keep coming here, and what about when they want the world? How will we stop them? How can we?"

He proposed a law, the Superhuman Registration Act. The so-called superhumans and mutants had to register to the government: their names, their powers, and their places of residence. There were people who disagreed with that act, and they were silently removed. Nick Fury was one of them. His actions during what happened during the Battle for New York were frowned upon and many powerful people very angry. He disappeared when he was removed as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury always had several plans in motion. It was suspected that he went to check out what those even meant. Among other things.

Maria Hill became the new Director, and she managed to convince Tony Stark and several other superhumans to side with them. Steve, though, had issues with the act, and he was not the only one. Banner hated it, but he had his reasons. Tabby outright hated it, along with the other mutants of the world. It sounded exactly like the Mutant Registration Act from several years ago.

There were demonstrations led by the ones who were against the act, and each demonstration ended in an all out fight with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. People became disillusioned as they watched their heroes fight each other. Hope was gone.

One being watched it all, amused and pleased with how everything was working out for him. Darkseid's plan to take the world involved causing the people of the world to turn their backs on their protectors before he gave them the hope of being saved by him. He knew that the one being who could stop him was nowhere to be found. This world and its people would be his.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Please read and review!

* * *

Tabby sat with her back against the wall of the safehouse she and the other fugitive superhumans and mutants used as a base. Her eyes were barely open, and Steve sat next to her. Lately, she had the worst headaches whenever their different demonstrations were broken up by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the people they used to trust. It was getting pretty difficult for her to even sleep lately.

Steve pulled her to him, and she unconsciously rested her head on his shoulder before her breathing became more regular. She was finally sleeping, and as always, Steve calmed her mind when it practically went a mile a minute with the world was falling apart.

He must have nodded off because hours later Tabby was in his lap, barely awake. She gave him a weak smile, her eyes still tired.

"Sorry," she mumbled at him.

Tabby went to move out of his lap, but he groaned as she moved across him. He instinctively held her a little tighter. She was biting her lip as she looked into his eyes, and she straddled him. Steve had a strand of her hair around his fingers. It always caught his attention.

He tipped her head back to kiss her deeply, and she held his face between her hands. His hands moved up and down her sides, and she sighed at the feeling of his hands on her. Steve laid her back, and her arms were around his neck with her legs around his waist. She hesitated for a moment, but she looked into his eyes, relaxing a lot.

From that moment on, they were deeply connected. One knew what the other was feeling. It was a strong mental link. Something she had heard about at the school, but she never thought it would happen to her. That was when she realized what she felt about Steve. The beginnings of love, maybe.

* * *

There times when her telepathy would go even more haywire. She could not even leave her room most days. Steve would stay by her side whenever he could, and he was the calming force during those dark days.

Tabby could sense one single awareness growing stronger and stronger as more and more minds began to disappear. It was worse than the massive genocide she felt when Jean was not herself. It was worse because they were still alive, but their willpower was gone, belonging to that lone, dark awareness. It made sense why everything was happening. People may have been influenced, controlled into making sure the Earth's protectors were either busy or out of action.

It had to do with all those towers around the world, but why did everything have to happen at the same time? Tabby still felt sick during those dark days, and her powers never gave her a break. She felt each mind, each will being erased.

* * *

Tabby still helped new mutants go to the school. it was more important with Hill or Tony always trying to get them registered. That was how it all started.

A brother and sister, twins and former mutant terrorists, were on the run, and Tabby was there to help them. S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to take them down, but Tabby could not allow that to happen. She stood protectively in front of the twins. An Air Force pilot turned superhuman was trying to take them down.

"Come on," she told them. "I know that you want to do the right thing."

The woman moved closer to them, and her hands began to glow yellow. Wanda raised one of her hands, and the ground around the woman's feet became enough for her to not be able to move at all. Tabby ran off with the two mutants, knowing full well that the woman would be after them once she was free.

"Stay low for awhile," Tabby told them once they made it to the school.

"I never thought you'd help us," Wanda said, and her brother, Pietro gave a curt nod.

"Why would you think that?" Tabby asked before she left.

* * *

It was in the middle of a demonstration when things turned very violent.

"On behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D.," the voice of Maria Hill, the new Director, told them all. "Stand down."

They would not, could not, and chaos erupted. Tabby knew that they would try to not fight back, avoiding direct conflict as long as possible. it was supposed to make them look like the victims as much as possible. Oddly enough, it was a trick Tabby learned from Magneto.

She sensed something terrible and acted to shove Steve out of the way. A loud gunshot cracked over them.

* * *

Tabby shoved Steve out of the way before a loud gunshot echoed all around them. People ducked to the ground, not sure where the shot had come from, and who was the target. he was on his feet quicker than most, and Tony landed next to him, offering an olive branch.

"JARVIS scanned the area," he explained, pointing to one of the few remaining standing skyscrapers in that part of the city. "The shot came from over there."

That was when he noticed that Tabby was in pain. He could feel it, and he almost collapsed from her pain. Steve managed to stumble to her and gently turned her over. She was gasping, and blood was pumping out of the gunshot wound in her chest.

"Eyes on me, Tabby," he said, working to keep his voice under control. "Stay with me, alright?" Tony called for an ambulance, demanded it really. Steve pressed his hand against her wound to staunch the bleeding. "I know this hurts, but I have to."

Her vibrant full of life green eyes looked into his, and they slowly became cloudy and empty. Blood began to run out of her mouth. One of her hands weakly grasped his wrist, and she gave him a mental snapshot, minus all of her pain. He knew she loved him, and she knew he loved her. Her green eyes became empty. Her grip slackened, and her gasping breaths stopped. Steve knew. With a shaking hand, he closed her eyes.

A light went out in his life.

* * *

"What happened?" Mark asked when he was told of her passing.

Steve was the one who volunteered to break the news. "She. . .was shot. . .bled out. . ."

Mark's legs practically gave out, and he was sitting on the ground, rubbing his eyes rather brokenly. Mark and Tabby had been pretty close.

The funeral was a quiet affair. Mark wanted a closed casket ceremony, explaining that it was what she had wanted. All of her brothers were there, even the ones who cut her out of their lives for being what she was. One of her older brothers was the priest who led the service, and he had to stop every once in awhile to break down and cry.

Brandon seemed to be the most empty of her brothers. Guilt which did not go unnoticed by Clint and Natasha. They glared at him, but out of respect for their fallen comrade, they remained silent during her service.

After, they stopped him.

"It was your gun," Natasha said. "You killed your own sister."

Steve felt horrible. He thought that Brandon had loved his baby sister, and he practically raised her. The fact that he killed her. . he was not sure what to think anymore. Tabby was right. The world was falling apart.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Brandon argued.

"Really?" Clint said. "It matched your gun. Matched. Your. Gun."

Brandon laid his face in his hands, admitting defeat and guilt, and he began to cry. At that moment, Steve turned his back on the grieving brother. Because of him. . .Tabby was long gone. . .his Tabby. . . He had felt her dying moments.


End file.
